Blog 4.

Wednesday 7th of October

An energetic warm-up stated off this week’s rehearsal, with fun and lively drama games such as ‘crazy chicken’ and ‘Irish jig’ helped to prepare the cast of Macbeth for their session. After they’d fully warmed up their bodies, they played a vocal game designed to engage themselves with their tone of voice to get completely in role.

The group then worked on their last scene from the previous session, taking into account all of the techniques they’d learnt from their workshop. A tricky stage swipe was incorporated, helping the actors to position themselves correctly for the next scene. Acting out a small series of lines and using clear mimes and freeze frames, the ensemble managed to create a clever scene of servants at Macbeth’s dinner with Duncan, setting the atmosphere perfectly.

Once this scene was completed, the cast shared their physical interpretations of death, using their bodies to create images and shapes that suited the scene. After breaking off into subgroups, some ensemble members began to form a soundscape relevant to the images that were shared, whereas the others used their knowledge of symbolism to tweak and improve them.

The main cast re-joined the ensemble, as they had been rehearsing lines separately. At this point Duncan’s death was presented creatively, with the ensembles still images, while Macbeth and Lady Macbeth brought in their scene. This formed an overlapping of the two situations creating an impressive visual guide.